Part 1:  Mao
by animalwriter
Summary: I am Mao Nome. How did I go from a young Mayan girl on Earth to universally famous researcher and grandmother of Galactic Fairy Sheryl Nome? And who helped me along the way? This is my story. Mao/OC. 'Prequel' to "Part 2 - Sheryl".
1. Earrings

私はマオノーム。(I am Mao Nome).

The people here are kind. I am learning many things from them already as they explain to me about the Protoculture Theory and about Variable Fighters and the organization known as U.N. SPACY. Also, the strange craft that fell from the sky which might be related in some way to the Bird Human. All of these stories keep me awake at night daydreaming of the things I might see when I travel to Macross City for the first time.

The other villagers are unsure. After all that has happened, they don't know whether to trust this new group of outsiders or not. Most want to stay in our village, despite the destruction, and rebuild our old way of life.

It's not as though I blame them. I'm sure my personality is such that I am sometimes _too _eager to embrace new things, to the point where I may trust too much. I know the villagers that want to stay in the village wish for me to stay and take on my sister Sara's role as priestess, but I feel that I could be more useful to them in going with these people from the cities.

Nutouk cautions that I may be too young yet to make this decision. He and Commander Focker argue about it at night when they think I'm sleeping; at least they do when Commander Focker isn't drinking himself into a stupor due to the loss of the woman he loved.

But I know my decision.

Still, I'll miss the village. I'm really not all that different from my sister. I love the natural world and our home as much as she did. But I like cities, too. I want to experience both. That's where she and I differed.

Plus, I have a feeling that the Kadun of destruction has not quite left our village, or even our world. I'm not sure what it is, but my feeling is that I need to go to the city. My people should, too. It's not safe out in the open anymore. Things will get worse.

But I cannot convince them of that.

Still, some are planning on coming with us to the cities. I'll have to be satisfied with that. And I will make sure that the people still in the village are kept as safe as possible, even with me gone. It's the least I can do.

This evening, I finally decided to make the decision of what to bring with me to the city when we left.

"Mao, I'm not sure this is right," Nutouk said slowly.

"They must stay with me," I said, my voice firm as I grabbed the last item off of the altar. I had already taken the picture of my parents and sister and removed the flowers and other decorative items. All that was left were the glowing candles and the earrings.

The sparkling purple earrings passed down through my family since the old days when Rooy Kanu and Rooy Waka still led our tribe.

* * *

**A/N: So what does everyone think? By the way, just a bit of trivia, Sheryl's earrings were not in the original animation of Macross Zero on the altar but were added in to the Blu Ray edition that was just recently released. So, of course, they have to make an appearance! Yay for fold quartz! :D**

**I hope to update this slowly, as well as the Sheryl one, so please let me know if you like it and leave reviews. Thanks!**


	2. Sea and Sky

"You are the only one left to lead us, Mao. You are our priestess," Nutouk frowned, his eyes again silently begging me to stay.

"Nutouk, I can't. You know I can't," I stood steady, determined to convince our tribe's elder that this was the right decision. "It is not safe here, Nutouk. I feel it just as Sara felt it. Soon the Kadun of destruction will fill the world. I have to go to Macross City. We all should go."

He shook his head; "We do not belong there. The people from the U.N. Carrier are kind, but they do not understand us. Their focus has always been on their technology. They wish to change us – to assimilate us into their world. Their eyes are always drifting toward the sky – they do not care about protecting the beauty of the surface world any longer."

"I think we'll all be forced to assimilate soon, whether we like it or not," I murmured, that lingering fear flickering in my chest yet again. "I understand that some of us do not want that, but I also don't think we're so different, really. I tried to show Shin that – that the sea and the sky are connected just as Rooy Kanu and Rooy Waka were. If we keep treating them separately then we can never understand each other. Just as if we keep the worlds of nature and technology separate there will also be no understanding."

Nutouk sighed. "There is some wisdom in your words, Mao. But we still do not know what became of your sister and of Shin Kudo."

"They reached an understanding, somehow," I sighed, closing my eyes as I recalled that strange moment where my sister had disappeared into the sky with the Bird Human. And my beloved Shin following after her to wherever they intended to go. Even now I was not sure whether they had died or drifted off into the sky to real places only the Bird Human could find. If I learned more about the theories the U.N. SPACY people had introduced me to – Protoculture and the possibility of life on other planets – then maybe someday I could determine exactly what had happened to my sister and our friend. That was, at least, one of my reasons for ultimately choosing to go to Macross City, although not the only reason.

"I won't be able to change your mind, will I?" Nutouk's voice was resigned.

"No. Commander Focker says that we are leaving tomorrow. I will sing 'Arkan' once more before I go, and I will make certain that my people that remain here are properly protected even if I must do so from Macross City. You have my word."

"I believe you," he managed a smile. "You are strong, Mao, as your sister was."

"Thank you, Nutouk," I smiled back, glad that Nutouk had finally accepted my decision, although I knew he still didn't quite approve of it. "Do you mind if I walk along the beach alone now? I would like to properly say good-bye to this place, and to the night stars."

"Of course," he retreated from the hut, heading back to his own home, and I left in the opposite direction, walking across the beach far from our village and the lights of the U.N. Carrier, where I could honor my sister and our tribe by seeing the unspoiled night sky.

The ocean's rhythm was smooth as always, a sharp contrast to the ruins of the island behind me after the recent attacks. I took a breath, inhaling the fresh night air and looking at the bright, sparkling stars of the night. Natural lights. Something that would never appear as pure and untouched again after I moved to the city.

And yet I knew now that they were more than little specks in the sky. They were massive objects far, far away. Burning with fire and bringing life to the universe. I wanted to learn more about such things, and Commander Focker had assured me that when I arrived in Macross City I could go to school. That prospect was one of the most exciting of all, and it sometimes kept me awake at night thinking about the things I would learn and the people I would meet.

But right now I felt bittersweet about that excitement. Part of me did not want to leave this place, and not only because of Sara and Nutouk and my people. I would miss this ocean, this sky, the animals and plants. The sounds of night in the jungle that now whispered all around me, mingling with the music of the ocean waves. Life continued to persevere, even in the wake of destruction. That was encouraging.

I hummed 'Arkan' quietly under my breath, taking a step and dipping my foot into the end of the surf as it rolled in, feeling it's mild warmth and wetness. The surf retreated and left my foot dry again, but I took further steps, the water washing back and forth over my feet until I was far enough in that it was always present. With the waters of the ocean swirling around me I looked up into the sky, finding that my vision was blurred with tears.

Blinking them back, I managed a smile and closed my eyes for a moment, breathing in the salt air and trying to memorize every last centimeter of this place. All of the feelings and sensations connected to my island. Where I had grown up and lived with my father, mother, sister, and people. Where I had encountered the animals of the sea, land, and sky, befriending them and playing with them whenever I chose. Where I had learned to survive in the wild, and also where I had been introduced to the concept of a world outside of ours. To technology.

There was a place in this world for both things, surely.

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**A/N: Sorry for the long break between updates. I hope to try and add an update every week or two from this point, but bear with me if I'm a little slow. Please read and review! Thanks! :)**


	3. Setting Out

**A/N: Hi everyone! Sooo sorry for the long wait between updates. I have just watched Macross Zero again and am starting to watch the original series. I look forward to writing how things during Space War I unfold from Mao's perspective, which should be quite unique and different from what we all know already. Thank you so much for the reviews so far, Darth Tabby and FrothyMug, and to those reviewing Sheryl's story as well. I look forward to exploring the possibilities for Mao's story and what happened to her between Zero and Frontier.**

**Another Sheryl chapter will also be posted soon!**

* * *

I was up early the next morning, taking a boat out onto the water for one last swim in the reefs before I had to leave. I would perform one final ceremony as priestess before leaving my people, resting assured that Nutouk and the few U.N. SPACY people that stayed on the island would take proper care of them until I could visit again. But right now I just wanted to be in the ocean, to play with the animals as I used to. It wouldn't be the same in Macross City. But I still had to go.

Trying to remain lighthearted, I smiled as I dove off the ship, headfirst into the warm ocean waters. Resurfacing, I breathed deep the salty air and tried to memorize the feeling of the water around me, the sunlight glittering down on the calm waves. Softly singing the Mayan language version of 'Yanyan', I dove again into the blue, enveloped by the sea.

Down below, the fish still swam in schools over the colorful reef. I chased after a small, shimmering green one that darted by, paddling down towards some rocks where a cuttlefish floated, flashing colors across its body to signal one thing or another. It was amazing, really, that despite the awful destruction on the surface these creatures survived, resilient and peaceful, beneath the waves. There was certainly hope for life on this planet, if only humans could try and learn from these more innocent creatures.

A flash above caught my attention and I looked up, feeling a little thrill as I saw a school of flying fish skim by above me, heading towards the surface. I broke into a swift swim, chasing them upwards, joining with them and breaking the surface just as they did, to watch them fly all around me, silver-blue, shining, and free, reminding me of Shin and my sister and everything that had happened recently. But I didn't feel sad. I felt happy. Whatever had happened to the two of them, they were at peace and together, and I was _certain _I would be able to meet them again one day, even if it was ages from now.

Right now, there were other things I had to do, and I felt it strongly. I had a life to live, even if they could not share it with me. I had a future to build.

And I would build it in the city.

* * *

The residents of our tribe were finally moved off of the aircraft carrier onto the beach near our ruined huts and the huts that had already begun being rebuilt. Standing in front of them on the sand, I clutched the shining pink, blue, and green earrings in the silver setting that had been passed down in our tribe. It was tradition for the priestess to wear them on the first ceremony she administered, but I had really not had the chance when I had sung on the aircraft carrier during the battle with the Bird Human and the Anti-U.N Alliance. The earrings had still been in Sara's and my ruined hut, but now I had them again, and so I would wear them now.

As I fastened them onto my ears, Nutouk standing next to me and watching me with pride and my people anxiously awaiting my farewell song, I felt an odd sensation running through me. I only really half-believed the old legends of our tribe, now that it seemed Rooy Kanu and Rooy Waka were more metaphors for the Protoculture aliens everyone was theorizing about and their intervention in human development, but there was _something _in these earrings. They felt like they connected me to those ancient beings that had come to our island, leaving these earrings and the Bird Human behind as the only proof they had been there, giving rise to our legends and traditions. Our song had _some _kind of power, that was certain, and I felt connected to all of the Kaduns as a priestess should, especially as I know had the Bird Human's blood within me.

I desperately wanted to connect our old legends to the reality out there somehow, to the aliens, to the whereabouts of my sister and Shin, to everything. But first I had to go to Macross City and go to school. And before then, I had to bid my tribe an appropriate farewell.

I felt a little young and nervous, but with the earrings dangling from my ears I also felt pride and a deep connection to our tribe, and so it was not too difficult for me to begin singing 'Arkan'. There were no stones nearby to raise into the air as my sister had done, but there were the faces of my people to reflect the power of the song, and the trembling and glinting of the earrings on my ears – although perhaps that last part was only my imagination.

The song was beautiful and reverberated throughout the beach, and I felt strengthened by it. Hopefully, my people did too. The farewell that followed, parting with Nutouk and so many of the people I had lived with for so long, was difficult, but I promised my people that I would always be thinking about them and would come back to visit whenever I could.

And then our tribe separated, myself and those who were going to the city with me walking down the beach toward the shore where boats would take us back to the U.N. aircraft carrier, and Nutouk and the others remaining on the beach. I waited until the rest of the tribe had gotten settled on the boats before taking Commander Focker's offered hand and stepping off of the sand of Mayan for the last time.

Looking back out at where Nutouk and the remainder of my people stood on the shore, I couldn't help but brush a few bittersweet tears from my eyes before smiling and waving my hand at them in farewell.

I would see them again. Surely.

I took a deep breath and turned back, trying to set my sights on the future instead of the past as our boat slowly floated towards the huge carrier in the distance.

"Are you ready then, Mao?" Commander Focker grinned at me, sober today as he sat down across from me.

"I… think so," I agreed, smiling shyly at him. I had only really gotten to know him well after the fighting stopped, and I felt differently towards him than I had towards Shin. He was more like a big brother type of figure. And I was, apparently, too young to spark his usual womanizing interests, though his mourning over Aries Turner was probably also a contributing factor. Her death had been utterly tragic. Although she had been a bit condescending towards Sara and our tribe's traditions at times, she had been a wise and kind woman, and her thoughts on Protoculture Theory completely inspired me.

"You'll love the city," he grinned, folding his arms behind his head and leaning back in the boat with that relaxed air he had about him. "I'll do what I can to help you get started in school, but I'll be pretty busy with the testing of the new Variable Fighter models that the U.N. wants me to do."

"You need them," I agreed, "before you try and launch the alien spacecraft for the first time, right?"

"Ideally," he agreed. "It should be ready to launch within the year, is what they keep saying. Already the mayor of Macross City is getting ready for a huge celebration on that date. It will be quite an experience for you, I'm sure."

"Mm," I nodded, trying to imagine what a celebration would be like in a huge modern city, with electronics and music and lights and crowds. It was thrilling and I looked forward to being a participant.

Soon our little boat arrived at the carrier and I climbed up the ladder to stand on the main deck, smiling at the line of VF-0 Variable Fighters in front of me, their silver surfaces glinting in the sunlight. Commander Focker would be testing new versions of the fighters soon, and I would be going to school to learn all about modern technology and space and the future of humankind.

The ship was already drawing up the anchor and soon it began to move, slowly, across the ocean toward its destination at Macross City on South Ataria Island. I could not resist running to the bow of the ship and letting the wind rush past me as I stared out at the distant horizon filled with hope, joy, and excitement.

I had not forgotten about my island and my people behind me, but I was also thrilled to be looking towards the future.

Towards the new world that I would be a part of.


End file.
